Breaking News

Presidential Race Too Close to Call

Aired November 8, 2000 - 5:48 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to show you what those totals look like, electoral vote, 270 needed to win, and here's the problem, neither man has that. Al Gore has to 249, George W. Bush has 246, one of them needs the state of Florida down there in yellow in order to win, neither one has it.

But let's you some popular vote totals. Across the country, 98 percent of the precincts reporting, Al Gore is leading in the popular vote, 47,918,000 to 47,655,000 for George W. Bush. It looks like Al Gore, if this trend continues, will be the leader in the popular vote.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: He has a 360,000 vote lead, but we caution you, there are a few million votes out. Now let's look Florida, Judy, same numbers we have been seeing.

WOODRUFF: One hundred percent, this is the same number, basically, but they are tied in percentages, but not in the numbers, George W. Bush ahead 2,905,000 to 2,904,000.

GREENFIELD: That's right, but 900 votes and change, give or take a few.

WOODRUFF: Nine hundred votes, less than 1,000.

In the state of Oregon, still too close for us to call, but with 74 percent of the precincts reporting George W. Bush, 49 percent, 541,000 votes to Al Gore's 512,000 votes. We cannot show you the state of Wisconsin and we don't know what the numbers are except to say that it is too close to call.

GREENFIELD: But we can , I think, as we tell the voters why this is so close, if any of you remember this, we asked, we talk about keys to the presidency and the first one was: What happened to the gender gap? Who did better in their natural gender, Republicans with men, Democrats with women?

Bill Schneider, what did you find?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. ANALYST: Here's what we found. We found that the election was not close among men; among men, Bush came out 11 points ahead. The election was not close among women; among women, Al Gore came out 11 points ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a gender showdown because you had a close race because men and women went for the opposite candidate by exactly equal margins.

WOODRUFF: Maybe we can have a president for the women and a president for the men?

SCHNEIDER: That's what they want.

WOODRUFF: Has anyone considered -- that would require probably a constitutional amendment. We do have the vote in the state of Wisconsin. We are going to show you now the popular vote in the state of Wisconsin. This is the third state outstanding. And whoa, yet another very close race. Ninety-nine percent of the precincts reporting in Wisconsin, Al Gore leading 1,239,000 to 1,233,000.

GREENFIELD: Sixty-five hundred votes, more or less.

WOODRUFF: Less than 6,500 votes.

GREENFIELD: How many states, how many races have we seen tonight where race after race...

WOODRUFF: There was just one after another.

GREENFIELD: These razor-thin margins are popping up. It's almost -- you cannot ascribe feelings and consciousness to numbers, but it is almost as if the country seems to be saying: We can't figure this out. We can't make up our minds. We don't want either of you. We want both of you.

SCHNEIDER: I said at the beginning of the evening, Americans were of two minds about this election, and that is what they seem to be saying everywhere, everywhere this has been a very, very close race, including the outcome in Congress, where a tiny majority of the House has become a tinier and the Senate may yet end up 50-50.

WOODRUFF: We've heard so many people, as we interviewed undecided voters around the country saying, if I were to decide on personality I would vote for George W. Bush; others saying, if I were to decide on issues, it would be Al Gore. You heard that time and again. I think people were not able to make up their minds on that basis either.

BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: In a democracy, every vote counts, and in this historic presidential election still unresolved votes in Florida will be recounted.

WOODRUFF: And once that recounting happens we may know, but it may be 10 days.

SHAW: It's time for us to close our notebooks, put our calculators away, gargle, rest our voices, because Bill Hemmer and Joie Chen will be in these seats very, very shortly. Carol Lin and Leon Harris, not Joie Chen and Bill Hemmer. My apologies, it is not surprising.

Oh, and Steve Bredesh (ph), our executive producer, says the reason why Joie Chen and Bill Hemmer will not be here is that we have been on the air so long all through the night, that we have gone right past their shift.

WOODRUFF: They have been working throughout this night.

SCHNEIDER: They've been here, but we took up their shift and we are now closing on our 13th hour.

SHAW: Yes, it has been a joy. It's been an honor and a privilege to report this historic story to you. Please, INSIDE POLITICS at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, we'll have updates on the very latest. And of course for every successive hour from this point on, CNN will be your network to find out what is the latest on that presidential race in the United States.

WOODRUFF: So stay with CNN, because whatever is happening, we are going to be bringing it to you.

GREENFIELD: And folks, in the year 2004, please could you make up your minds a little more conclusively because I think we can't take another election like this one. It's been great.